Modelling concrete’s behaviour has been performed using mainly empirically-based expressions. This is due to the fact that concrete is a highly heterogeneous material with complex physical-chemical-mechanical behaviour. The present R&D project aims at contributing to the knowledge of this behaviour at meso-scale (scale of the aggregates) by numerically and experimentally assessing the role of parameters such as geometry, texture and stiffness of aggregates in the mechanical behaviour of the material.



The main goal of the first grant concerns the meso-scale experimental characterization of different concrete mixtures, namely: normal concrete, high strength concrete, self-compacting concrete, lightweight aggregate concrete, fibre reinforced concrete and alkali activated concrete. The main focus will be the assessment of the properties of aggregate-binding paste interface. Then, correlations will be established with the macroscopic elastic parameters of the material.

The second grant addresses the development of finite element software for the simulation of the behaviour at meso-scale up to failure. This behaviour is highly dependent on the micro-cracking occurring at aggregate – binding paste aggregate. This work will have the experimentally input of the first grant and of the members of the research team which are expert on the numerical simulation of quasi-brittle failure. The final output will be a robust numerical tool capable of simulating the behaviour of concrete with the material properties induced by the aggregate binding paste interface.